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Mrs. Gorf (book chapter)
"Mrs. Gorf" is the first chapter of Sideways Stories from Wayside School. Sypnosis During the first week at Wayside School, an evil teacher named Mrs. Gorf transforms all the students in her class into apples. Plot The chapter opens, giving a brief description of Mrs. Gorf, citing her as having a "long tongue and pointed ears", and that she was "the meanest teacher at Wayside School. She tells the class that if any of them are bad or answer a problem wrong, she will wiggle her ears, stick out her tongue, and transform them into apples. Mrs. Gorf quickly catches on that Joe is copying off of John, so Joe is transformed for cheating, while John is transformed for letting Joe cheat. Todd claims that that is unfair, since John was only trying to help his friend, only for him to be transformed into an apple as well. Mrs. Gorf places the apples on her desk, only when Stephen begins to cry out of fear, but since Mrs. Gorf reveals there should be no crying in her class, he is also transformed. During the night, the four students transformed into apples lay on Mrs. Gorf's desk. They apparently could talk to each other, but didn't have much to say. The next day, Kathy shows up late and is transformed into an apple. Paul sneezed, and was transformed into an apple, while Mac (known as Nancy at this point), trying to apologize, was also transformed. Terrence fell out of his desk and was transformed. Maurecia tried to escape, but before she could enter the hallway, she too was an apple. Soon after, however, she tripped over a piece of chalk, causing the Three Erics, Eric Fry, Eric Bacon, and Eric Ovens, to laugh. She then transforms them into apples. Louis comes in to investigate, since he hadn't seen some students during recess, and he heard Mrs. Gorf was a mean teacher. However, he assumes he is wrong when he sees the dozen apples on Mrs. Gorf's desk, not noticing a dozen students are missing (foreshadowing?). He assumes she must be a nice teacher if so many students give her apples. Louis walks in again the next day, only for there to be a dozen more apples on Mrs. Gorf's desk, with only three students left in the class. Louis simply assumes Mrs. Gorf must be the best teacher in the whole world. By the end of the week, all the students are apples. Mrs. Gorf is glad, since now she doesn't have to walk up and down thirty flights of stairs every day, only for Todd to jump off the desk, and hit Mrs. Gorf in the nose, with the rest of the apples following. They demand to be transformed back into children, and Mrs. Gorf fulfills their request. They ask to go get Louis, only for Mrs. Gorf to threaten them again, but Jenny holds up a mirror, which transforms Mrs. Gorf herself into an apple. Louis comes in asking where Mrs. Gorf is, but none of the students answer. He then looks on the floor and notices an apple, which is actually Mrs. Gorf. He assumes that if Mrs. Gorf usually has so many apples, she wouldn't notice if she was missing just one, and eats it. Characters *Mrs. Gorf (debut) *Joe (debut) *John (debut) *Todd (debut) *Stephen (debut) *Kathy (debut) *Paul (debut) *Mac (debut, as Nancy) *Terrence (debut) *Maurecia (debut) *Eric Fry (debut) *Eric Bacon (debut) *Eric Ovens (debut) *Louis (debut) *Jenny (debut) Trivia *Louis Sachar wrote this story in high school under the title "Apple Power." His teacher actually disapproved of the story, ripped it up, and felt Louis didn't take the project seriously, but Louis enjoyed it, and eventually had a rewritten version of it be the first chapter of Sideways Stories from Wayside School. *This marks the debut of Mrs. Gorf, Joe, John, Todd, Stephen, Kathy, Paul, Mac, Terrence, Maurecia, Eric Fry, Eric Bacon, Eric Ovens, Louis, and Jenny. *This chapter would later be adapted into an episode of the cartoon called "Mrs. Gorf." Gallery Mrs. Gorf 1978.jpg|Dennis Hockerman illustration Mrs. Gorf Chapter Illustration 1985.jpg|Julie Brinckloe illustration Mrs. Gorf Chapter Illustration 2003.jpg|Adam McCauley illustration Foreign editions Mrs. Gorf Chapter Illustration.PNG|Peter Allen illustration (UK) Mrs. Gorf Chapter Kitamura.png|Satoshi Kitamura illustration (Japan) Category:Sideways Stories from Wayside School chapters Category:Book chapters